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4/28/2015

Hot Docs Review: 'Deprogrammed'

Deprogrammed

(Canada, 90
min.)

Dir. Mia
Donovan

Programme:
Canadian Spectrum (World Premiere)

The
endlessly peculiar world of cults come full-circle with the thought-provoking
doc Deprogrammed.Director Mia Donovan (Inside Lara Roxx) returns to the festival with the story of
professional deprogrammer Ted “Black Lighting” Patrick,
who made a significant, if notorious, career by extracting individuals from
cults and using his deprogramming techniques to remove the ideologies
brainwashed into them. Donovan’s brother Matthew is one of Ted’s last efforts,
and her personal connection to this unorthodox saviour/sinner offers a wild
springboard into the complicated world of unconventional organizations and the
lifestyles they breed by deception and choice alike.

Patrick’s efforts are highly
unorthodox, if not criminal in some cases, as he and individuals involved in
previous cases recall efforts in which he extracted (re: kidnapped) cult
members from their groups at the behest of concerned family members. His
aggressive and unconventional techniques to dissolve the ideas branded into the
brains of the cult members is akin to a de-brainwashing as he scrubs out the
bad influences. Donovan shows how Patrick’s efforts can either save families or
tear them apart, and her study of her own brother’s experience turns the table
back on the audience to ask if all organizations are evil, or if we simply need
to re-evaluate to accept beliefs and practices that are as outside the
mainstream as Patrick’s own techniques. Deprogrammed
is a bound to have audiences talking.